Dead Man's BloodS1 Ep8
by Bad Day at Black Rock
Summary: John shows up to help the boys investigate the murder of an old hunter friend and recover a supernatural gun. The boys have mixed concerns about his appearance.
1. Chapter 1

After they'd decided to look into this Elkin guy, Kayla and Dean waited outside the café while Sam used the restroom. Kayla tugged playfully on Dean's jacket.

"I don't think I told you how hot you were today."

Dean leaned against the wall, trying to be nonchalant. "No, don't think you did."

"I think you'd look hotter with a further lack of clothing."

"I think we can arrange that." His smile dropped instantly as Sam approached.

He looked between them and was instantly annoyed. Enough was enough, what was he trying to accomplish here?

Dean nodded to him. "Let's go man."

"You know, I'm not a child."

"Um, I believe I used the term 'man'…"

"I know you two hooked up, fresh puppy love is really hard to hide. It's stupid you think you can't tell me dude you know that."

"Well I…" Dean started to defend himself.

"Hell as long as this has been going on, I'm just impressed with the longevity."

"Hey lay off me!"

Kayla laughed, it was about time he stopped acting like a grounded teenager. "I told him that, I told him to tell you. Now let's go, you can banter in the car."

The Elkin place was in shambles but the guy was definitely a hunter. The weapons, the journal, the salt ring, everything pointed towards professional. Dean wondered if he was an active hunter; the guy was old but you never know. It was just kind of depressing to think that after all his years he put into this job, something still got to him in the end. Elkin was never safe. He wondered if he'd end up like that, hell he _knew_ he'd end up like that. Probably sooner than later.

As they sorted through the room, something on the floor caught his eye. The police probably wouldn't even notice them, just scratches on the floor amidst the blood and mess. Still, he put a paper down and etched over it lightly in pencil; old school but it got the job done. When he was finished he held the paper up.

"Look familiar?"

Sam took the paper. "Three letters six digits, the location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop."

"Just the way dad does it."


	2. Chapter 2

Inside the box held an envelope addressed to J.W., with PO Box listed as the address. Dean sat and looked at it for a moment in the car.

"J.W., John Winchester you think?" Sam asked out loud, but he knew who the letter was for. There were too many coincidences for it not to be for dad.

At the same moment they all nearly came out of their skin as someone pounded on the car window. They looked to the side to see none other than John Winchester. From straight out of nowhere, he got into the backseat of the Impala.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asked, still recovering from the jump.

"I heard about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you guys at his place but I had to make sure you weren't followed." He nodded to Kayla sitting next to him.

"Hey Mr. Winchester."

He smiled knowingly; his son had taste. "You can call me John. It's good to see you're still around." He turned back to his boys. "I should look at that."

Dean handed him the letter and he ripped it open, reading out loud.

"If you're reading this, I'm already dead…that bastard."

"What?"

"He had it the whole time! When you were there, did you see a gun? An antique, a Colt Revolver, did you see it?"

Kayla searched her memory. "There was an old gun case on the floor."

"Yeah." Dean agreed. "But it was empty."

"They've got it. We need to pick up the trail, if these things have it we have to find that gun."

"Wait," Sam leaned over his seat as his dad got out of the car. "You want us to come with you? What's the big deal about this gun?"

"It's important." His tone left them not questioning the gun.

"We don't know what these things are."

"What he hunted best. Vampires."

"Vampires?" Dean asked. "I thought they didn't exist, you've never even mentioned them."

"Oh they exist." Kayla held her hands up as they looked at her. "I'm just saying. They're not friendly either."

John nodded. "I thought they were extinct, I was wrong."


	3. Chapter 3

As they waited for him to finish talking to the police, Sam was on edge. He hated that dad kept them out of the loop, like he wanted their help but only for the grunt work. It was demeaning; did he really think they couldn't do this as well as him?

"I don't see why we couldn't go up there with him."

"Are you going to start already?" Dean looked at him; he wasn't in the mood to mediate between him and dad. They were too old for all that crap.

John approached them and they stopped talking. "It's them alright. We're going to have to double back and get around that detour."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Sam." Dean warned him, but like usual he ignored him.

"I just want to make sure we're headed in the right direction."

He started to say something to Sam, but glanced to Kayla and decided against it. Instead he pulled out a tooth. "I found this."

Dean picked it up. "A fang?"

"Just a tooth, a second set that comes down when they attack. Any more questions?" He shot a look at Sam, for once in his life he didn't talk back. "Let's get out of here. And Dean, why don't you touch up your car? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if you were going to ruin it."

John got in his car and Dean looked at Kayla, a little embarrassed. He'd never had witnesses around but now that he did it made him realize his dad could be a bit of a jerk sometimes. Kayla smiled reassuringly to him.

"I think your car's hot, just the way it is."

It made him feel a little better.

A couple hours down the road and Dean got a call from dad, they were getting close. He put his phone down.

"Pull off at the next exit."

"Why?"

"He thinks we've got the vampire's trail."

"How?" The word shot out like venom.

"I don't know, he didn't say."

_That's it._ Sam hit the accelerator and spun in front of his dad's truck before screeching to a halt, forcing the truck to stop. He threw it into park and got out.

"Oh great." Dean turned to Kayla. "Stay here ok?" He got out, to play referee, again. He was so, _sick_, of this crap. All Sam does is bitch about how terrible dad is because he's not around, we can't find him, and now here he is and Sam's bitching about him being here. It's the same crap from when they were kids, it was time for him to grow up already.

Kayla put her head down and tried not to listen, but it was hard not to. Sam was pissed and that was an understatement. It wasn't long before the two were in each other's faces, screaming at one another. She wondered briefly if they would actually fight, she didn't know them _that_ well. Dean did his job well though, he managed to separate them and keep them from fighting. It looked familiar for him; he'd obviously done it a time or two before. The silence the rest of the car ride was completely awkward.


	4. Chapter 4

Were they really going to do this? Just walk into a vampire lair, _full _of vampires and start killing? It seemed kind of crazy to her, but she wasn't going to miss out on it either. If these things really had a gun that can kill anything, supernatural included, they had to get their hands on it. Kayla leaned against the truck as the guys finished getting ready. When Dean approached her, the look on his face said everything.

"Kayla…"

"Please don't say it."

"Please." She knew what he wanted, he wanted her to stay here and _not_ argue with him about it. That second part was just fantasy of course.

"If I don't go with you on these things, how am I gonna build up my toughness factor?"

He fought a laugh. "We don't know what's going on in there. As far as your "toughness factor"…"

"Dean." Kayla pleaded with him, she didn't join up with them to sit on the sidelines.

"Let the girl come Dean she knows what she's doing."

_Thank you John._ She stuck her tongue out at Dean and knew he wouldn't refuse his father.

Dean grimaced towards his dad and Sam, then pulled Kayla aside out of their hearing range. "Stay with me."

"No problem."

"I'm serious about this."

"I'm not going to run off without you, you couldn't very well keep me from getting killed then could you?"

He sighed and nodded slightly, knowing this was a losing battle. "Ok, I'm just worried about you."

So in they went. From the inside it didn't look like a vampire's lair, more like the aftermath of a kegger where people are still passed out around your house the following morning. Sam stopped to untie a girl who was passed out against a post, apparently their little snack toy. Kayla would have helped him but she did as Dean wanted and stayed with him. They found a holding cell with other people tied up, these things had a whole buffet at their fingertips.

Suddenly there was an unnatural wailing echoing through the place; it must have been the girl Sam was trying to save. Well, not a girl, not anymore. She was turned recently from the sounds of her cries; she was hungry and Sam smelled like food. As the vamps jumped out of their beds John yelled for them to run and they sure as hell booked it out of there.


	5. Chapter 5

Yeah she was definitely not going to be the one who sat up close and personal with a vampire in the car to lead the head vampire away. See, the last time she encountered vampires was from a distance and from what she saw, at the time it was way out of her league. She called it in to the Roadhouse, Kayla knew her limits.

Instead she went to the vampire's nest with the guys. Apparently they weren't all needed; they only left one lonely vampire to defend the place. Dean easily decapitated him, poor thing didn't even see him coming. Kayla made herself useful and pried the lock open to release their snacks, or captives, whatever.

Dean liked this setup. They kill the evil things, Kayla rescues the innocent people. It was like everyone was doing what they were meant to do. After they finished with the nest they took off in the car to meet up with dad, despite his request to stay away. Fuck it, he wasn't going to do it alone. He'd take the tongue lashing later.

They arrived just in time; John was lying on the ground, the colt was about five feet from him. Dean shot two arrows through two vampires to subdue them and Sam ran in to fight, only to be knocked to the ground by the leader of the group. The vamp swiped him up and held him with his arm locked around Sam's neck. While they were negotiating, Kayla lingered closer to John and kicked the colt towards him.

_It's killing him._ Dean immediately dropped the katana in his hand and backed away. He was relieved to see the grip loosen a little so Sam could breathe.

"You people, why can't you just leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do."

John had gotten up but Kayla didn't move an inch, nothing to draw attention to him.

"I don't think so." The vamp turned towards him and John put a clean shot through his forehead, she was pretty sure everyone standing there was impressed by it.

Kate cried out in agony to see him dying on his knees; it was kind of sad. Vampire or not they were still soul mates, or soulless mates, whatever. Soulless mates…ok that made it not as sad, kind of funny in a morbid way.


	6. Chapter 6

Hearing that they were going to go after the demon together seemed to put everyone at ease. When they decided to rest for the night, Kayla effortlessly drifted into a comfortable sleep. It definitely didn't hurt that Dean was next to her on the bed.

John looked at his son doing research on the bed. Dean was propped up on the pillows with Sam's IPod headphones in and looking through paperwork while Kayla slept soundly next to him. They were comfortable with each other. Dean seemed to be focused on the paperwork but if Kayla so much as shifted in her sleep, he reached over and stroked her hair. He wondered if he even realized he was doing it.

He noticed Sam looking at him. "How long?"

"Awhile, not really sure. Five, maybe even six months. He tried to hide it for awhile."

"He's really taken by her."

"Yeah, he's in way over his head."

"Dean's never half-assed anything in his life. When his mind is set on something, it's all or nothing."

"I guess."

He realized the conversation probably wasn't one of Sam's favorites. "I'm sorry about Jessica."

"No, I know. It's not like that. I'm happy for him."

He smiled at his youngest. "You're a good kid."


End file.
